CBS This Morning

Mike Murphy: Romney must "prove himself" in South

(CBS News) Although former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won six of the 10 states that held presidential primaries on Super Tuesday, he must still "prove himself" in the South, Republican campaign strategist Mike Murphy said on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday.

Romney's victory tally included Virginia, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum weren't on the ballot there. Santorum won in Tennessee, and Gingrich took his home state of Georgia, his first win since South Carolina's primary. Murphy told Charlie Rose that Tuesday night was "bumpier" than Romney wanted.

"The two headlines are: He's going to have to go prove himself in the South, where he's had some problems, and Ohio, like Michigan, was uncomfortably close," said Murphy. "I think they may change his Secret Service name now to Wallenda cause every night is a tightrope, but that said, he won."

Murphy, a Time magazine columnist who worked on Romney's gubernatorial campaign, said Romney needs to focus more on winning what he called the narrative side of the race.

"This race operates on two levels," said Murphy. "There's the delegate reality, which is very, very important, and I think Romney had a strong night. He started ahead. He finished more ahead. The challenge for Mitt though, I think, is there's also the narrative side of this, the who's winning, who's losing story, and there I think he had a bumpy night. Didn't have a big loss, won a lot of states, won some a little easily, won some a little surprisingly."